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Microfiber from Textiles – The New Task of Standardization
Summary
This review examines the emerging standardization needs for microfiber analysis from textile washing, identifying that conflicting results from studies using different analytical technologies, pre-treatment procedures, and washing processes require harmonized methods to develop feasible solutions for minimizing textile microfiber emissions.
Microfiber from textiles found in the environment is under discussion worldwide. In the last few years, a lot of information and knowledge have been generated by scientists, industry, businesses, brands, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the research is going on. However, the comparability of the different studies is not given because different analytical technologies, different pre-treatment procedures, different textiles, and different washing processes were applied. This can lead to conflicting results and there is a growing need to generate a comprehensive understanding of fiber abrasion during washing. The aim of all activities should be to develop feasible solutions to avoid and minimize the microfiber debris from textiles. For the analysis of textile microplastics, harmonized test procedures and test protocols are needed. The standardization process is complex and time-consuming. This chapter will overview the activities and update the already-reached results until March 2023 in the aspects of standardization.
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